This application claims benefit of Japanese Application No. Hei 11-212506 filed in Japan on Jul. 27, 1999, and Japanese Application No. 2000-146952 filed in Japan on May 18, 2000, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by this reference.
The present invention relates to an endoscope system having an endoscope connected to a peripheral equipment such as an image processing apparatus in order to perform endoscopic examination or the like.
In the recent years, proposals have been made for an endoscope system having endoscope-related data assigned to an endoscope.
For example, an endoscope system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 63-271217 includes an endoscope identification information assigned to an endoscope, an endoscope recognizing means, and a light level control means. The endoscope recognizing means recognizes the endoscope identification information, and the light level control means controls an amount of light emanating from a light source unit.
Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 2713840 has disclosed an electronic endoscope system having an identification member, an identifying means, and a memory means. The identification member with which an electronic endoscope is identified is included in the electronic endoscope. The identifying means for identifying the identification member of the electronic endoscope and the memory means in which set values for attaining a white balance are stored in association with each electronic endoscope are included in a signal processing apparatus.
According to the foregoing related art, information assigned to an endoscope (endoscope identification information) cannot be rewritten. Endoscope-related data to be rewritten, such as, an initial examination day, an institution name, and a user""s comment cannot be handled.
Moreover, a serial interface enabling data communication over a sole signal line is not used to enable peripheral equipment connected to an endoscope to recognize information assigned to the endoscope. Recognition units included in the endoscope and peripheral equipment alike have therefore a large configuration. This leads to an increase in size of the peripheral equipment. The peripheral equipment is therefore hard for a user to handle.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope system that is easy to manage and maintain, and realized on a small scale.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope system in which endoscope-related data including a use situation of an endoscope can be checked readily.
According to the present invention, there is provided an endoscope system having an endoscope to be inserted into a subject in order to perform endoscopic examination, and peripheral equipment connected to the endoscope, wherein the endoscope includes:
a programmable storage medium in which data relevant to the endoscope is stored; and
a serial interface to enable the reading or writing of endoscope-related data from or in the storage medium, and to serve as a communication unit for allowing the data to be transmitted or received to or from the peripheral equipment.
Consequently, endoscope-related data to be rewritten, such as, an initial examination day, an institution name, and a user""s comment can be written or read. Endoscope-related data is stored in each endoscope and can therefore be managed easily.
An endoscope system in accordance with the present invention consists broadly of:
an endoscope having an imaging device, which images an object, incorporated in the distal part of an insertion unit to be inserted into a subject, and used to perform endoscopic examination;
an image processing apparatus, connected to the endoscope, for producing a video signal from an output signal of the imaging device;
a display device for displaying an image of the object according to the video signal to be input;
a programmable storage medium included in the endoscope and used to store endoscope-related data relevant to the endoscope;
a communication unit to enable the writing or reading of endoscope-related data in or from the storage medium, and to allow the data to be communicated to or from the image processing apparatus; and
a control unit to enable the display of the endoscope-related data on the display device at any time.
Consequently, the endoscope-related data can be checked easily.